MAHINDER Vs. STATE (N.C.T. OF DELHI)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is preferred by the appellant Mahinder against the impugned judgment dated 17.03.1997 convicting him under Section 302 IPC for committing murder of Ram Singh, and the consequent order on sentence of even date.

(2.) Briefly put, case of the prosecution is that on 08th March, 1993 at 11:00 a.m., PW14 Constable Balbir Singh, who was on duty at J.P.N. Hospital, informed police station I.P. Estate vide DD No. 8A (Ex.PW14/A) that Constable Azadvir (PW10) had brought one Ram Singh in injured condition to J.P.N. Hospital, who, on examination by the doctor vide MLC No. 13537, was declared dead. On receipt of the said DD report, SI Rajendra Singh (PW11) and Inspector N.P. Singh reached J.P.N. Hospital. They collected MLC of Ram Singh and thereafter, proceeded to the spot of occurrence located at the open parking area of Vikas Minar in front of Nagar Tea Stall. PW2 Nagar Lal was present there, who made a statement Ex.PW2/A claiming that he was the proprietor of Nagar Tea Stall, Shop No. 11, DDA Market near Vikas Minar. The deceased Ram Singh S/o Kali Prasad was employed in his shop as 'Halwai' for the last 1 1/2/2 years and used to reside at the shop. The appellant Mahinder S/o Karam Chand was his customer and he used to take meals at his 'dhaba'. As a result, he had developed friendship with the deceased. The complainant Nagar Lal further claimed that on the fateful day, there was not much work at his shop because of 'Holi' festival. At about 09:45 a.m., appellant Mahinder came to his 'dhaba' and chatted with Ram Singh (deceased). A short-while later, he saw that appellant and deceased were quarrelling. The appellant Mahinder was abusing the deceased and saying that he would not spare him. On this, he and his servant Hyat Singh (PW3) intervened and separated them. On enquiry, the deceased told him that the appellant used to ask him for free food and when he refused to serve free meals to the appellant, 3 or 4 days ago, the appellant threatened to kill him and that was the reason for the altercation between them. Complainant also claimed that thereafter, appellant and the deceased went out of the 'dhaba' abusing each other and began to grapple. Seeing this, he sent his employee Hyat Singh (PW3) to call the police, and he intervened and separated them. At about 10:15 a.m., appellant Mahinder again rushed towards the deceased and he took out a knife from his right socks and inflicted a knife blow on the left side of the neck of Ram Singh (deceased), and also inflicted three or four injuries on the face of the deceased. In the meanwhile, Constable Azadvir (PW10) and Head Constable Panna Lal (PW8) came running from the side of Ring Road. On seeing them, the appellant ran towards Vikas Marg, ITO with the knife in his hand. Head Constable Panna Lal chased him without success. Constable Azadvir brought a three wheeler scooter from Vikas Marg and took injured Ram Singh, who was bleeding profusely, to the hospital where he was declared dead. Later on, Head Constable Panna Lal also returned to the spot and told that the appellant had escaped. SHO N.P. Singh sent said statement of Nagar Lal along with his endorsement to the police station for the registration of the case. On the basis of said statement, formal FIR (Ex.PW11/A) was registered.

(3.) The Investigating Officer visited the spot of occurrence. He seized a pair of 'chappals' belonging to the deceased from the spot. He also lifted the blood sample as well as control earth from the spot and prepared the rough site plan Ex.PW17/B. Inquest proceedings were conducted on 09.03.1993. Dead body was sent for post-mortem and other formalities of investigation were completed.